The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air

[Christopher]

Well, the creators have said they're keeping this series based in Republic City to differentiate it from the globetrotting A:TLA. But I agree, it would be nice to learn something about how the rest of the world has changed. Hopefully we'll get occasional field trips, or learn about those places from visitors or news reports. Maybe if the show gets another season beyond the slated 26 episodes, they'll open it up more. Or maybe there will be tie-in comics.

On that subject, there's a canonical comic coming out called The Promise, which is set a year after "Sozin's Comet" and serves as a bridge between A:TLA and TLoK. It's in three 80-page volumes, of which the first is already out and the second is due in June. I'm eager to get my hands on it. I'm hoping it will reveal that "incredible story" of Zuko's search for his mother.

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I never knew about that. I'll have to get it.

The Promise Part 1

 

[Manticore]

Spoiler: The Legend of Korra Chapters 1-2

I still find it surprising that they've gone so quickly from the early-industrial tech of A:TLA's Fire Nation to this early-20th-century environment with cars and electricity and radio and cameras. But then, this is a world where it took them about six months to go from the Mechanist's first prototype hot-air balloons to a fleet of massive war zeppelins. I guess they're just very, very efficient. But I would've liked it if the tech had been a little less advanced, a little more steampunk and bending-based.

Spoiler: Followup to Christopher's Spoiler

It's not really that surprising when one considers all of the changes from the 1850s to the 1920s. Considering that they already had tanks and battleships, at least the Fire Nation was already well in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. And the Republic is made up of former Fire Nation colonies, so they'd presumably be about as advanced as well.

I have to say, so far, I'm even more impressed with this series than I was with TLA. TLA took about half a season or so to really find its voice, and this one's come out of Zone 3 punching.

Spoiler: Shipping

So what's Mako/Korra shipping going to be? Makorra?

 

[Christopher]

Spoiler: Followup to Christopher's Spoiler

It's not really that surprising when one considers all of the changes from the 1850s to the 1920s. Considering that they already had tanks and battleships, at least the Fire Nation was already well in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. And the Republic is made up of former Fire Nation colonies, so they'd presumably be about as advanced as well.

Spoiler: Followup to followup

Yeah, but the Fire Nation's tanks and battleships were powered by firebending. The culture was based on generating power for machinery through human effort, not on using machinery as a source of power. Ultimately everything was driven by chi. So it's not analogous to our Industrial Era except on a superficial level. And it would be a major leap to get from that kind of system to the innovation of electric generators, batteries, and the like. The culture would need to undergo a fundamental change in its way of thinking about what technology is.

Although it would help if it were to be revealed that the city's source of electrical power is a legion of lightning-benders.

 

[SG-17]

Spoiler: Followup to Christopher's Spoiler

It's not really that surprising when one considers all of the changes from the 1850s to the 1920s. Considering that they already had tanks and battleships, at least the Fire Nation was already well in the throes of the Industrial Revolution. And the Republic is made up of former Fire Nation colonies, so they'd presumably be about as advanced as well.

Spoiler: Followup to followup

Yeah, but the Fire Nation's tanks and battleships were powered by firebending. The culture was based on generating power for machinery through human effort, not on using machinery as a source of power. Ultimately everything was driven by chi. So it's not analogous to our Industrial Era except on a superficial level. And it would be a major leap to get from that kind of system to the innovation of electric generators, batteries, and the like. The culture would need to undergo a fundamental change in its way of thinking about what technology is.

Although it would help if it were to be revealed that the city's source of electrical power is a legion of lightning-benders.

Spoiler: Actually...

Fire nation machinery was powered by coal furnaces and steam engines. Remember that earthbender prison that was a storage, processing, and transfer station for coal? Firebending was mostly used for weapons. The Airships, battleships, factories, tanks, and war balloons were powered by coal and steam (though I assume that in an emergency they could be powered by firebending like the War Balloon).

 

[Thestral]

On that subject, there's a canonical comic coming out called The Promise, which is set a year after "Sozin's Comet" and serves as a bridge between A:TLA and TLoK. It's in three 80-page volumes, of which the first is already out and the second is due in June. I'm eager to get my hands on it. I'm hoping it will reveal that "incredible story" of Zuko's search for his mother.

Spoiler: Zuko

Dante Brasco is listed as a voice actor for Korra on Wiki but without a character. I'm hoping he'll play a relative of Zuko's (son, grandson?) and we'll get at least a brief explanation of how that search went. On the other hand, I died laughing with the tease about the search for Zuko's mother, and I wonder how much the fanbase would how if we never found out for sure.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

A lot to like here, the early 20th Century setting is cool, sassy Korra is a bit annoying sometimes but mostly funny and endearing but I think Tenzin totally steals the show, what a great character.

 

[Snaploud]

I liked what I saw. Korra was a little annoying, but she warmed up a bit as time passed.

Tenzin's kids were the stars of the show, by the way. They were the most fun and interesting of the new group of characters.

 

[Christopher]

Spoiler: Actually...

Fire nation machinery was powered by coal furnaces and steam engines. Remember that earthbender prison that was a storage, processing, and transfer station for coal? Firebending was mostly used for weapons. The Airships, battleships, factories, tanks, and war balloons were powered by coal and steam (though I assume that in an emergency they could be powered by firebending like the War Balloon).

Hmm, granted.

 

[T J]

I am so in love with this show!

 

[Kelthaz]

Absolutely brilliant. This show is shaping up to be even better than the original. It at least has a much better beginning.

 

[Christopher]

I watched the first two episodes again (yep, it's that good), and I had a couple more thoughts. One, the pro-bending folks are surprisingly blase about discovering the Avatar is on their team. I mean, the Avatar's kind of the most important person in the world, this deeply sacred figure. It's kinda like having the Dalai Lama or the Pope join a sports team. Yet the sports folks merely had a few moments of surprise and then just rolled with it. That seemed like something got glossed over for the sake of pacing.

Also, one thing that concerns me a bit is that so far, all the bad guys seem to be male. I know Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee are tough acts to follow, but it's just not an Avatar-verse show without awesome, kickass young ladies on both sides.

And I guess that "roll eyes skyward, then give a world-weary sigh" business is pretty clearly going to be Tenzin's "thing," but what's impressive is that the animators have him do it a bit differently each time. I love the attention to detail. Joaquim Dos Santos is probably the best animation director in television (though credit should also be given to his co-director here, Ki Hyun Ryu), and it's great to see his work again.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Spoiler: Spoilers

One of the Equalist villains and probably the Zuko equivalent in Korra is female. But she hasn't been introduced yet.

 

[Brikar99]

I got to watch these this afternoon and was very impressed. The animation is great; I love the expressions of the characters. The metal bender policemen were really cool, and I like all the designs of the city and vehicles.

 

[OmahaStar]

If you haven't seen it yet, the premiere two-parter is still up on the Korra Nation website. I thought it was going to be up for just the weekend. But happy to keep watching.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Finally saw both episodes. It's great to have the world of Avatar back. When The Last Airbender ended, it felt like a real goodbye. I had to face the possibility that that was it, but here we are again. Another full series. So far so good, and it looks like they've captured lightning in a bottle a second time. They've introduced us to an updated world and they've really upped the stakes with the central conflict. The idea of a villain who wants to rid the world of bending certainly has my attention and I can't wait to see where this goes. I fear for Korra in the same way that I'd fear for Superman and gold kryptonite.

A few more thoughts...

- I haven't warmed up to these characters as quickly as I did with The Last Airbender. I like Korra and Tenzin, I'm just not completely onboard yet with the guys on the probending team.

- Looks like the team will be central to the show. I'm not super thrilled about that either, but I'm willing to see it through.

- I agree that it's odd to have most of the original characters dead, given that it's only been about 70 years. Maybe they died heroically.

- Loved the reference to Zuko's mother. Looks like they're dancing around that the way Babylon 5 did with the telepath war.

- The Dalai Lama is named "Tenzin". Good nod.

- From the opening credits, it looked like Republic City was in the Earth nation.

- Those other monks in the temple couldn't have been air benders. Bending is hereditary, so Tenzin and his kids should be the only air benders, unless Katara had other kids with bending capabilities.

- Wouldn't it be something if we got an avatar who couldn't bend one of the elements at all? I was thinking of that as I watched.

- I liked the music and visuals for the closing credits.

- The old show had a lot of heart and so does this one.

 

[Takeru]

- From the opening credits, it looked like Republic City was in the Earth nation.

Technically it's not in the earth kingdom, it's on former earth kingdom territory, the entire United Republic is, where else could it be? It was created out of the former Fire Nation colonies, the colonies obviously can't be in the Fire Nation, the poles aren't exactly attractive spots to create colonies and we know the air temples weren't turned into fire nation colonies.

- Wouldn't it be something if we got an avatar who couldn't bend one of the elements at all? I was thinking of that as I watched.

What? Maybe you should think about this a little bit more, because it's absolutely impossible. The avatar is defined by his ability to bend all four elements, if he can't bend any he's a non-bender. Do you have any other ideas, like an earth bender who bends fire instead of earth?

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I was asking "What if an avatar couldn't bend one of the elements?", not "What if they couldn't bend any of the elements?" In other words... What if we discovered that Korra could never bend air? What if she could only bend three out of the four elements? It was just a thought.

 

[Takeru]

You're right, I misread what you're wrote. My point still stands, the avatar is defined by his ability to bend all four elements, even if learning one is harder than the others, the avatar can do it.

 

[Christopher]

- I haven't warmed up to these characters as quickly as I did with The Last Airbender. I like Korra and Tenzin, I'm just not completely onboard yet with the guys on the probending team.

I'm having much the same reaction so far. Hopefully this show will accumulate a rich supporting cast like the original did.

- Those other monks in the temple couldn't have been air benders. Bending is hereditary, so Tenzin and his kids should be the only air benders, unless Katara had other kids with bending capabilities.

According to the Avatar Wiki, Aang and Katara's first two children -- named Kya (for Katara's mother) and Bumi -- were non-benders. So Tenzin is the only living adult airbender, though all three of his children so far are also airbenders. Korra did say in chapter 1 that Tenzin was the only airbending master in the world.

I'm surprised that it worked out that way, though. I figured that if Aang's spirit-bending could let him take away someone's bending ability, it could also let him imbue someone with bending ability. So I figured he could've created hundreds of airbenders that way, instead of having to repopulate the line the old-fashioned way. I guess that's not the way it works, though, and I wonder why.

^ I was asking "What if an avatar couldn't bend one of the elements?", not "What if they couldn't bend any of the elements?" In other words... What if we discovered that Korra could never bend air? What if she could only bend three out of the four elements? It was just a thought.

The very idea is a contradiction in terms. The Avatar is the nexus of spiritual balance in the world. Fire is balanced by water, earth is balanced by air. Remove any one of those elements and the balance is lost -- just as the balance of the world was lost when Fire Lord Sozin wiped out the Air Nomads. Not to mention that every Avatar contains the same soul as every previous Avatar. Spiritually, Korra is not just Korra, she's also Aang and Roku and Kyoshi and Kuruk and Yangchen and so on all the way back to the beginning. So she has the soul of an airbender just as much as she has the soul of a waterbender, earthbender, and firebender. It's impossible to separate one of those threads out of who she is. Her current personality or genetics may make it difficult for her to access that part of her spirit, but it's definitely within her.